Tag Archives: it’s nice to be important but it’s important to be nice

With the Republican National Convention, social media officially made its débutante debut into Campaign Season 2012. Tonight, the Democrats take the stage. I hate that politics and religion are a polite conversation no-no. Mostly because of the “polite conversation” part. Unlike the Loch Ness monster, I know this exists online. I’ve seen it. Really smart, informative discussion that we need to have. That we are fortunate enough to be able to have.

I’ve written about my concerns over reproductive rights here, on Twitter and Facebook. I’ve tweeted and posted my belief in social programs, affordable health care, marriage equality and written that I’d want my husband to share my politics, but I can surely have friends with different views.

I support the platform of the DNC (if you’re curious about party platforms, here is a NYT piece from today). If that is reason to unfollow me on Twitter, Facebook or stop reading my blog, so be it. But before you close the tab, I wonder:

If I share my beliefs and concerns based on facts, share without telling others that they are personally wrong for not agreeing, what exactly is impolite in that conversation?

I ask in earnest because I see tweets left and right (no pun intended) about people unfollowing based on expressions of their political beliefs. I look at those tweets - from Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and Independents - and in most cases, they’re expressions of beliefs based on facts from political platforms.

I absolutely understand discomfort when someone tweets or blogs or posts political opinion that’s personally insulting or promotes propaganda. Let’s discuss the difference. Because there is one. A HUGE one. It’s the one that makes it very easy for me to agree to disagree with those who don’t share my beliefs vs. being left uneasy by those who make it a direct assault.

I wish we could all take a social media pledge, of sorts. One that says that be it campaign season or any season, we use our voices online responsibly. Because honestly, I think that it’s all the same at the core. As bloggers we regularly talk about what’s important in our world, even if what we define as “important in our world” shrinks and expands depending on the day. Let’s allow for a bit of differing opinion. That’s the beauty of this country, isn’t it?

In some parts of the world, writing about political beliefs, tweeting and posting, could put me in jail. Just shy of a century ago, my opinions on any of this held no weight because I wouldn’t have been able to vote. We take so much for granted as Americans when it comes to our political voices. Maybe too much?

If you’ve read this far, thank you. We’re more than our political affiliations. We’re adults, fully capable of respecting one another regardless of who we vote for or what gods we pray to, if we pray at all. (I urge everyone to stay informed through the campaign season- sites like FactCheck.org and PolitiFact.com are good stuff.)

So this time last year, almost to the day I had a bit of a crisis. Doing a five-day photo shoot on location takes some planning. Cameras and lenses and bounce flashes and memory cards and more memory cards and the batteries and chargers and back up chargers in case anything dies. (Why, oh, why does every new camera model have a different battery? Why?) The list went on and on.

I was happily prepared for BlogHer ’11. Not smug, just feeling like I had my ducks in a row. Until something dawned on me. Multi-day event work isn’t my regular thing, and I normally don’t carry gear made for it. I usually put my things down somewhere while I’m working, but I was going to need to carry a lot of it most of the day. Every day.

So, I began scrambling around this giant city to find the perfect bag in two days. I saw some nice rugged camera bags, but the investment was pretty big for something I didn’t see myself using much (read: they were big and black and screamed, “Hi, I’m a camera bag!”). I unexpectedly tortured myself further by doing a quick google search for camera bags and came upon Kelly Moore’s site. I fell in love with her bags. Specifically the Mimi, which looked like it would hold just about all my things when I had one camera in hand.

If Marc Jacobs and Nikon had a love child, it would be that bag.

The price was worth every penny given that it not only would work for this shoot but on my everyday ones, too, and if I removed or rearranged the interior padding I could use the iPad sleeve and throw in a script and notepad and go work at The Coffee Bean. It could be a tote. A diaper bag, too (OK, I was projecting a bit). Kelly Moore thought of everything.

I, obviously, had not.

I’m no genius in the math department, but I knew that I couldn’t get the bag in time. I didn’t see any expedited options on their site, so I emailed asking a big favor, explaining I was off to shoot BlogHer, and if there was any way they could expedite that shipping to overnight, please contact me.

I got an email that asked for my address. I wrote back politely, not sure what the overnight cost would be to ship.

And then another email. No, no, I didn’t understand. They wanted to send me the bag.

I may have cried a little. Maybe because two days of running around to find a bag had left me exhausted and a little worried. Maybe because the generosity of strangers is nothing short of humbling.

I asked them to give me as many of their business cards as they could stuff inside. I wanted to do whatever I could to thank them. They had gone above and beyond overnight shipping.

The bag arrived. No business cards to be found.

I wore than bag at BlogHer last year, and it saved my neck. Literally.

alexandra wrote reflection blogher11At one point, I ran into my friend Laura, who was then expecting a baby. She looked at me and said I was probably carrying more weight than she was. When I got home, I stood on the scale with my bag full of gear and cameras around my neck, and it was about 20 extra pounds. Laura, I think I won.

I was always quick to share the story of how that bag came to be at BlogHer. I was proud to be wearing it. My co-shooter ended up ordering a bag after the conference, and I hope I was able to bring a few more people their way.

Still, to this day I look at that bag and wonder how I’ll ever really be able to thank Kelly for that. That bag made it possible for me to concentrate on doing my work because I didn’t have to worry about how I was going to schlep things around the massive convention center. I had the support I needed.

This post isn’t sponsored. It isn’t a giveaway. It’s just about gratitude.

In a moment when I needed some help, I got so much more than I had ever expected. Without any strings attached. I have nothing planned yet, and perhaps what I do will remain anonymous, but I now link the BlogHer conference with a generosity I’d never expected. One I hope I can somehow pay forward.

Thanks, Kelly. I couldn’t have done it without you (and Mimi).